Putting your deaf children in which schools...and why?

Hi,

Deafness partial or total lack of hearing. It may be present at birth or may be acquired at any age thereafter. So school's are very important for every deaf children's . Through this deaf children and teenagers make their friends for life, even where they may meet their future spouses. Deaf community is very important for every deaf people. Now parents are also very serious about this.

Thanks
 
I have a hearing son and hearing grandchildren. But if I had a deaf child, I would definitely put him or her in the deaf school as long as they are signing. Also I would find a school that has deaf programs which is the most important visual in ASL. I had struggled badly in the mainstream school with no deaf program, so my deaf child should go the the deaf school and he or she would be the lucky, happy kid in the world. :) :cool2:
 
Now that's hard question. I would probably check around and see if private school would be willing to get an interpreter. That would be where I would send my deaf child to. Socializing would be easier if it was really a small school (where children tend to grow up together) and if I encourage deaf child to join some after school activities. Joining sports was what I did and I made friends along the way. While socializing is important, education is far important, and from my experience, I didn't really get that from school for the deaf.

But of course, my deaf child will probably decide at end where s/he wants to go. If deaf child still really want to go to school for the deaf, I will try my best to pack and move closer to some of best school for the deaf in US.
 
But of course, my deaf child will probably decide at end where s/he wants to go. If deaf child still really want to go to school for the deaf, I will try my best to pack and move closer to some of best school for the deaf in US.
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Well that's why I think a split placement would work well. I do think that education for disabled kids needs to be VERY child centered. Public education is too "one size fits all" and designed for average kids to learn. Not to mention that most mainstream sped (meaning non formal dhh or blind/low vision program) is designed for learning disabled kids.
I would put my kid in a dhh early intervention and elementary based program. Then, around fourth or fifth grade they could try out the res school. Or we could move.
 
If I were blessed to have any other kids, and any of them were deaf, I would send them to the deaf school in St. Augustine, FL. The school here in town for deaf, hoh and other special needs kids is closing down and they all will be mainstreamed or sent to special schools around the state according to their needs and family wishes.

I would want them to have the help and services that I was never offered.
 
I honestly have no idea yet what I would do. I was mainstreamed, and I did get a great education, and I was fine socially, but at the same time, I faked through a lot of social interactions and never understood a single video or assembly I went through. I had no idea how much I missed out on until I got to college and received services.

If any of my future children were deaf, I would want them to get a good education, along with having a social environment in which they can feel completely comfortable and partake in easily. I'd like them to learn ASL and English, but I wouldn't pressure them to have perfect oral skills. I'm not as knowledgeable as some of you are in the area of deaf schooling, but I suppose I'd like a Deaf school with high educational standards.
 
The school here in town for deaf, hoh and other special needs kids is closing down and they all will be mainstreamed or sent to special schools around the state according to their needs and family wishes.
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There's a seperate school for them in the West Palm Beach area? I wasn't aware of that. Is it a private school? I know Florida has the dhh regional programs. I feel bad for the kids who are going to be mainstreamed, since Florida is supposed to be really bad with mainstream sped. (in states where mainstream sped is bad, the schools for the deaf and blind tend to be REALLY good)
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d like them to learn ASL and English, but I wouldn't pressure them to have perfect oral skills.
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Exactly! Most kids can aquire decent oral abilty.....but it's still very hard for us in the area of articualtion, pronouncation, modulation pitch volumne etc.
I'm not as knowledgeable as some of you are in the area of deaf schooling, but I suppose I'd like a Deaf school with high educational standards.
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And they DO exist. Sure there's not a lot of kids heading off to Harvard,but there are quite a few good Deaf Schools. I know parents of hoh kids who have sent their kids to Deaf schools!
 
deafdyke said:
There's a seperate school for them in the West Palm Beach area? I wasn't aware of that. Is it a private school? I know Florida has the dhh regional programs. I feel bad for the kids who are going to be mainstreamed, since Florida is supposed to be really bad with mainstream sped.
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I don't remember the exact name of the school, but I think it was Palm Beach Day School or something like that. A friend of mine in high school went there after her massive accident where she was hit by a car.

I know that all the kids with hearing loss, and vision difficulties, and other special medical needs went there. There are now too few of them, so they are closing it. It's been here for over 30 years. My friend, when she was 8 was riding her bike with her mother. A drunk driver hit them both, the mother died and the friend was thrown over 500 yards and slammed into the side of the house. She had massive brain trauma and had to relearn how to walk and talk and everything again. She also suffers severe seizures as a result. She is lucky to have survived.
 
ut I think it was Palm Beach Day School or something like that. A friend of mine in high school went there after her massive accident where she was hit by a car.

I know that all the kids with hearing loss, and vision difficulties, and other special medical needs went there. There are now too few of them, so they are closing it. It's been here for over 30 years
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So kids who were just dhh or just blind/low vision could go there? Not just kids who were more involved? (ie they had intellectucal disabilites) That's fairly unusual, but I wonder if it was a reflection of how bad mainstream sped was and is in Florida.
That's actually kind of good news that it's closing. Although you would think that there are still a lot of severe multihandicapped kids who would need education at a school like that.
Maybe this way, some of the dhh kids will be able to go to the Deaf School.
 
deafdyke said:
So kids who were just dhh or just blind/low vision could go there? Not just kids who were more involved? (ie they had intellectucal disabilites) That's fairly unusual, but I wonder if it was a reflection of how bad mainstream sped was and is in Florida.
That's actually kind of good news that it's closing. Although you would think that there are still a lot of severe multihandicapped kids who would need education at a school like that.
Maybe this way, some of the dhh kids will be able to go to the Deaf School.
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No - kids with hearing problems, vision problems, autistic, and all kinds of special needs. As more and more children were being mainstreamed, there became not as much of a need for the school. It was not just dhh or blind/low vision. Enrollment at one point was over 400 and then went down to 25-40.
 
KristinaB said:
No - kids with hearing problems, vision problems, autistic, and all kinds of special needs. As more and more children were being mainstreamed, there became not as much of a need for the school. It was not just dhh or blind/low vision. Enrollment at one point was over 400 and then went down to 25-40.
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That is truly a shame.
 
All of the teachers in this school district (public, private and whatever else) have had to take basic sign language classes for the influx of dhh students. They were already prepared for the physically and mentally disabled students and not at all prepared for the blind/low vision students. Most of the dhh and blind/low vision will be going to the FSDB in St. Augustine.
 
KristinaB said:
All of the teachers in this school district (public, private and whatever else) have had to take basic sign language classes for the influx of dhh students. They were already prepared for the physically and mentally disabled students and not at all prepared for the blind/low vision students. Most of the dhh and blind/low vision will be going to the FSDB in St. Augustine.
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Actually, I'm pretty glad to hear that they are mandating the sign classes. I wish more districts would take that initiative.
 
Oh, so it sounds kind of like the equalivant of an Easter Seals type of school.
I've got to say that while mainstreaming has its good points for kids who only need minimal accomodnations, I just want to SLAP the parents who automaticly assume that their kid will be better served in the mainstream. This includes blind and low vision kids as well as kids who have CP or MR or autism or learning disabilites. I do think we need to stop worrying about inclusion in the mainstream, and instead develop public programs and schools for kids with disabilites. Kids with disabilites would still be able to attend public school. They wouldn't be excluded from public school. There wouldn't be a seperate but equal philsophys. Rather, it would be that kids with special needs need specialized schooling in order to suceed. I DO think that kids with disabilites should have to "test into" the mainstream. We've had too many kids falling through the cracks, assuming that they'll be able to get the same services and quality of education in the mainstream or through programs like Headstart.
 
My local (not close, but in this sense local!) Deaf school is practically empty at the moment in primary. The districts will not pay for places, so the school is struggling for money to cope with the needs of the kids who already go there cos so many places are empty, so price per person goes up so the district is ever less willing to pay the price!

Their system is to place a child in the most mainstream type of place possible as a first placement, then keep moving them along with a "special school" as a placement of last resort. So by the time the kid finally arrives at the Deaf school they have had the trauma of 5 or more failed placements behind them and have little to no education, plus the primary department of the Deaf school is empty. Some parents are paying full fees to send their kids there because they are being turned down for funded places.

Children are always referred for a half-term probationary period to see if it is the right placement for them, which gives no sense of security to the child and parents, the parents have to buy uniforms for the sake of potentially half a term, and if the kid loves it there but the authority pulls out from funding because they reckon the needs can be met elsewhere they pull them back out again, it's awful. The school is tired of being used as an assessment process, put them in the Deaf school where they will figure out what equipment is needed, teach them some BSL and Deaf Studies, tweak the hearing aids/implants because they have the capability to actually program the kids' aids in the school, not in a soundproof isolation booth. Then once the Deaf school has got the child sorted out and stable they pass them back to a cheaper placement!

They don't understand that an adult interpreter is so fundamentally different from being able to speak to your own friends in your own language, directly. If you want to do something naughty you can't cos there is always an adult hovering with you. I used to say to my BSL students when I was teaching that if they wanted to use the interpreter to tell their friends the lesson was totally boring then go ahead, as this is something the other kids can do whenever they like, why do the deaf kids have to be little angels?
 
RoseRodent said:
They don't understand that an adult interpreter is so fundamentally different from being able to speak to your own friends in your own language, directly. If you want to do something naughty you can't cos there is always an adult hovering with you. I used to say to my BSL students when I was teaching that if they wanted to use the interpreter to tell their friends the lesson was totally boring then go ahead, as this is something the other kids can do whenever they like, why do the deaf kids have to be little angels?
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This is one of my biggest reasons for sending Katie to WSD. She NEEDS to chat and gossip and talk about boys with her friends. There is NO WAY she can do that if she has to rely on a terp tagging along. I want her to get into mischief. I want her to have secrets. I want her to play pranks and scheme. I want her to complain about me/teachers/whoever to her friends. All of that is SO key to development.
 
WeeBeastie said:
This is one of my biggest reasons for sending Katie to WSD. She NEEDS to chat and gossip and talk about boys with her friends. There is NO WAY she can do that if she has to rely on a terp tagging along. I want her to get into mischief. I want her to have secrets. I want her to play pranks and scheme. I want her to complain about me/teachers/whoever to her friends. All of that is SO key to development.
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I agree...having a terp as a 3rd party doesnt allow for normal socio-emotional development especially in the pre-teen years.
 
Unless there are other deaf people (maybe more than 5 or 10) who know sign languages and go to her school, then she should be fine. But that's very rare.
 
A said:
Unless there are other deaf people (maybe more than 5 or 10) who know sign languages and go to her school, then she should be fine. But that's very rare.
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Yes, it is rare ...too bad though.
 
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